I’ve been planning my trip to the big BlogPaws conference in Nashville, TN in May. I was thinking about getting Wynston a custom made tuxedo jacket for the event and yesterday I was joking with Matt when I said “Okay, if for some extremely crazy reason that I am a finalist for a Nose-to-Nose award, I’m going to order him a custom jacket.” Of course, neither of us thought I’d be a finalist. Custom tuxedos are EXPENSIVE!

The tuxedo jacket I ordered for Wynston from C H Couture!

No joke, when finalists were revealed during BlogPaws Twitter chat tonight, I scrolled down the list and jumped out of my chair when I saw Dog Mom Days listed under the “Best New Pet Blog” category…

Tears. Oh, the tears.

I’ve been working so hard on my blog. I started blogging in December 2013, and here I am, all of those 3am nights paying off.

All finalists were nominated in January of this year. The judges went through over 1,000 nominations to reveal the 48 finalists in 12 categories. I am one of 4 finalists in my category. This is not happening…there are several thousand bloggers in the BlogPaws community alone!

The 2013 BlogPaws Nose-to-Nose winners!

Am I in a dream?

What’s crazy is that enough people read/like my blog for me to become a finalist for Best New Pet Blog. Wow.

In the meantime, I need a new dress!!!!!!!! The winners will be announced at the red carpet ceremony in Nashville on May 30th. I am so honored to be nominated for Best New Pet Blog with these other fantastic blogs:

Finally I can let the world know – my boy is a model for PetSmart. We were approached by Arizona Animal Actors in October about Wynston being an alternate for a Martha Stewart pets photo shoot. With less than 24 hours notice, we were ready to go!

I was so nervous. Yes, I had been working hard on Wynston’s sit-stays for a good 6 months to get him ready for the possibility of modeling, but I didn’t think the opportunity would come so soon, and I wasn’t sure he was ready. The trick is, your dog has to be able to sit and stay on a backdrop with about 10 other people around snapping photos and shouting loudly…

Well, Wynston did incredibly well. We spent about 8 hours at the shoot, and he wore about 5 outfits over the course of an hour. We got to watch about 4 other dogs have their chance as well, which definitely helped us learn while we waited for our turn. I figured, even if his photos weren’t going to be used, it was an amazing experience and now I have an idea of what photo shoots will be like. I mean, they steam each dog outfit and everything…it’s a serious deal!

I was on cloud nine when we left the studio that day. I was so proud of Wynston. Once afraid of his own shadow, he would now sit and stay in a room full of people with lights flashing at him and loud clicks of the camera. Proud dog mom moment!

We figured if Wynston was going to be used, we’d see him around January in PetSmart ads, on the website and in stores. He modeled the spring line of clothes, so I knew I’d have to wait a while. Then today I got a message from my friend Ashley who found him…

WYNSTON IS ON THE PETSMART WEBSITE! No joke, I was screaming and jumping up and down. My son, once clinging to life, is now on the website of the biggest pet store in the nation, modeling for the most famous domestic goddess, Martha Stewart herself.

Wynston did model some girl clothing. Some of the girl dogs modeled boy clothes. Onlookers don’t know what sex the dog is, so it doesn’t matter what they are wearing. I’m looking forward to seeing if he shows up in more outfits, and where his photos end up. It’s a possibility he will be on TV, end caps in the stores and paper advertisements. He may also show up on the website again in different outfits.

The local PetSmart add for January 16-19th, 2015.

All of the work I have put into Wynston is literally paying off now. Yes, Wynston is a professional so he does get paid for the photo shoots. Martha Stewart tends to use only purebred dogs, and all dogs have to be approved for her shoots before they happen. Her team liked what they saw with Wynston so that was really exciting in itself. I’m not sure when we will get another opportunity for a shoot, but we would love to do another one!

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive of our journey! If you see any ads or end caps with Wynston on them, please share them on my Facebook page or email them to me. I’d really appreciate it!

Wynston on the PetSmart website.

Wynston is growing a pretty impressive resume! Be sure to check it out here!

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Meet Amanda!

Full time pet blogger & creative writer planning RV life on the road with my dog and three cats. Mom to a PetSmart model, animal rescue worker, Coca-Cola addict, AZ Diamondbacks fan for life and speaker for those without a voice. Email me at amanda@dogmomdays.com